Out of the past: July 8

1997

After three residents of Vincent Park Drive objected, the Cape Girardeau City Council yesterday reversed itself, voting to deny George and Lora Lee Eaker a special use permit to put a double-wide mobile home on that street in the northern part of the city; the case has stirred controversy about what the city's policy on allowing mobile homes outside of mobile home parks should be; currently, the city requires a special use permit.

Schnucks Cape Midtown will close July 26, little more than two years after Schnucks Markets Inc. acquired the former Del-Farm National Supermarket from Loblaw Companies, Ltd.; that location, at 121 S. Sprigg St., has housed a grocery store for the past 38 years, having opened in 1959 as a National Food Market store; sales at the Midtown store had been dropping for two years before Schnucks bought National from its Canadian chain, and a store spokesman says sales have continued to drop since Schnucks took over management.

1972

Pierce News, which has district headquarters in Bridgeton, Missouri, and operates retail book stores across the country, plans to occupy approximately 3,000 square feet of space in the Town Plaza Shopping Center recently housing a cafeteria; the cafeteria, which had been operated by Thad Bullock, has been discontinued and all equipment removed to the Marquette Hotel building.

Utility poles and trees in Cape Girardeau had become popular locations for political campaign posters; but, enforcing a local ordinance, employees of the City Street Department yesterday began removing the offending ads.

1947

River boats as a hazard to waterfront property in Cape Girardeau is the latest flood development, as two reports come in of power boats navigating close to the Missouri shore and sending huge waves pounding against adjacent property, knocking out plate-glass and other windows in the inundated structures; the plate-glass window in the Firestone store at the southwest corner of Main and Independence streets was knocked out by the force of waves, and an uncounted number of smaller windows in buildings along Water Street have been smashed by the rollers caused by two boats going downstream.

A tribute to his 50 years of service in the medical profession was paid Dr. C.A.W. Zimmermann, Cape Girardeau physician, by the Cape County Medical Society last night at the Colonial Tavern; Dr. J.H. Cochran, after telling of his accomplishments in the profession, presented Zimmermann a watch on behalf of the society; Zimmerman graduated from medical school at Washington University in St. Louis in 1897 and first entered practice in East St. Louis, Illinois; after 25 years there, he came to Cape Girardeau in 1922; he is particularly prominent in the field of radiology.

1922

Cape Girardeau County was flooded with heavy rains that swept down suddenly yesterday afternoon and night, filling creeks and doing considerable damage to roads and fields bordering streams; rain was general throughout the county, being more intense in the eastern part, in Cape Girardeau city and vicinity; the torrents of rain will cause wheat threshing in the county to be delayed several days.

Attorney General Jesse W. Barrett spoke to a small audience at Cape Girardeau last night, the very heavy rains making it impossible for a crowd to gather; Barrett emphasized that he is running for U.S. Senate on his accord and has no machine or political faction backing him; he feels confident he will get the Republican nomination.

-- Sharon K. Sanders